Rasmus Ristolainen’s return gives Flyers an edge: ‘He likes the physical part of the game’
The hulking defenseman's first game since March 11 was eventful. “Guys got to keep their heads up, because he is a good hitter, open-ice hitter,” coach Rick Tocchet says.
BUFFALO ― Of course, there was no rookie lap for Rasmus Ristolainen on Tuesday in Montreal.
The hulking defenseman entered the night with 776 NHL games under his belt, but that doesn’t mean his season debut didn’t come with some nervousness.
“Yeah, almost felt like the first NHL game in some ways,” said the 31-year-old Ristolainen, who made his debut on Oct. 2, 2013, with the Buffalo Sabres, whom the Flyers play on Thursday (7:30 p.m., ESPN+, Hulu).
“Obviously, long time to be out of the game, and happy the first one is over. So now I can start building on and actually, like, focus on hockey.”
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Ristolainen’s first game since March 11 — he missed the first 31 games of this season and the final 16 of last season — was eventful. Across 19 minutes, 18 seconds of ice time, Ristolainen had three shot attempts, two blocked shots, one takeaway, and three hits.
One of those hits sent Canadiens forward Juraj Slafkovský to the ice in the first period. Ristolainen took some cross-checks, including one or two to the arm, from Ivan Demidov, as the Canadiens forward took exception to the hit.
“Before the game even started, I knew something like that would happen,” defenseman Cam York said with a grin. “He likes contact, I don’t know how else to put it. He likes the physical part of the game, and it’s not fun to play against as an opposing guy.”
When you ask Ristolainen about the hit, he’ll say he wasn’t searching it out and that they “bumped” into each other. But that hit, and the others he threw, did help him get into the game after skating on his own for months, then practicing with the team for a little over a week.
“I felt better, actually, in the game than I’ve been in the practices,” he said Wednesday after practice in the visitors’ locker room at KeyBank Center, “because some of the practices can be somewhat chaotic and obviously not gamelike.”
It’s been a long, winding road back for the Finnish defenseman.
“So basically, three surgeries in the same elbow,” he disclosed of the injuries that cut short his 2023-24 season. “Obviously started with a pretty bad infection, which I played with for multiple weeks until I couldn’t anymore. And then we found out there is some infection and a torn triceps tendon. So obviously, did those two things separately, and then tried to get back.” He played just 31 games that season, getting shut down in mid-February.
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“Probably the schedule was pretty too quick, looking at it now, after doing two [procedures in 2024],” he said. “So came back pretty quick, played some decent hockey for 50, 60 games, and then it suddenly snapped, and not sure when or where it happened again.
“Obviously, second time the same tendon [was] torn. So saw a different doctor this time, and his timeline and recovery were a lot longer, which I think was the key and helped. And, yeah, right now I’m here and feel pretty good.”
Ristolainen got back onto the ice in June in Finland, where he was limited to skating. He didn’t start using pucks until September, when the Flyers were in training camp.
“I mean, obviously it’s tough,” he said about dealing with another tear and a third procedure. “But I’m more like a person [who thinks] I can’t control that anymore. So it’s no point to be too down. And just then you look at the road ahead and just do everything and work hard, and try to make it better than it was before.”
Well, his game definitely looked good on Tuesday night, and it impressed the new bench boss.
“Guys got to keep their heads up, because he is a good hitter, open-ice hitter,” coach Rick Tocchet said Wednesday. “It’s always good to have guys like that. Just a long stick in the corners, squashing plays, squashing a cycle, cutting off a reset.
“Those are big plays. They’re unnoticed plays, but they go a long way. Instead of defending 20 times a game, you’re only defending 14, because he’s squashing a player and gets his stick on a puck or something like that.”
And having Ristolainen back helps solidify the defensive corps. According to Natural Stat Trick, he skated with Nick Seeler for more than 15 minutes at five-on-five. They may have been on the ice for more shot attempts against (13) than for (seven), but they weren’t on the ice for a goal against.
They were also able to eat some of the minutes along with some of the stress on the other pairs.
In the last six games, Jamie Drysdale averaged 23:17 of ice time, with his partner Emil Andrae at 20:14 — even after being moved down to the third pair for half of the game on Sunday in North Carolina. Nick Seeler was at 21:04 while skating primarily with Travis Sanheim, who played 25:59, with York missing four games.
On Tuesday, the time was more evenly spread out, notably with Sanheim getting 22:20 of ice time. As York mentioned, having Ristolainen “balances out a lot of things for us” and will only help the defense maintain a high level of play across the remaining 50 games.
“Yeah, just obviously a big piece of our D corps that we’ve been missing for a while,” Sanheim concurred. “And just the way he plays adds that physical presence and a really good defender. So it’s been nice having him back, and it means a lot to the team.”